The results are in! Last month we named Change the Rotation's 32 favorite albums of 2023. Now we have the results of our 11th annual albums of the year bracket showdown. How did the matchups go down and who was the last album standing? Find out below. First, a little bracketology: four of us (Dave Anians, Danny Collins, Steve O and myself) each submit a list of our favorite full-length albums of the year. Any record appearing on at least two of our lists automatically makes it onto the bracket. The remaining spots are divided evenly between the four of us. Once we have our field of 32, the albums are drawn randomly into their positions on the bracket. All four of us vote on each matchup until we have a champion. Four voters means there are bound to be some ties. We each assign a point value to each album before the voting begins (32 points to our favorite album, 1 point to least favorite). In the case of a tie, we add the four point values for each album to determine the winner. Below, see how it all came out and stream all 32 albums through the links toward the bottom of the post.
2017 champion Sincere Engineer heads into the final four with Cheap Grills. Mustard Plug makes their bracket debut and wins an all-ska first round matchup. In fact, Sincere Engineer is the only band in this quadrant that has previously appeared on the bracket.
It's the end of the year and that means it's bracket season at Change the Rotation. AKA the time when we take our 32 favorite albums of the year and pit them against each other in a merciless contest for aural domination. 2023 marks the 11th annual album of the year bracket. Here's how it works: four of us at Change the Rotation (Dave Anians, Danny Collins, Steve O and myself) each make a list of our favorite full-length albums of the year. Any record appearing on at least two of our lists automatically makes it onto the bracket. The remaining spots are divided evenly between the four of us. Once we have our field of 32, the albums are drawn randomly into their positions on the bracket. All four of us vote on each matchup until we have a champion. Four voters means there are bound to be some ties. We each assign a point value to each album before the voting begins (32 points to our favorite album, 1 point to least favorite). In the case of a tie, we add the four point values for each album to determine the winner.
We are running on punk time this year, so a winner won't be crowned until mid to late January. For now, feast your ears upon this year's 32 finalists, Change the Rotation's top albums of 2023:
I feel like avant-garde black metal has bloomed into a full-blown renaissance in the past several years. The underground has been producing an endless onslaught of one-of-a-kind masterpieces of genre fusion, bewildering technicality, and abyssal extremity. Ὁπλίτης, or Hoplites, is one of the latest projects to join this trend. Hoplites is a Chinese one-person project writing music in Greek language, an odd enough thing for sure, but you see, this music is avant-garde black metal, we’re getting weird. What does that even mean? There are definitely a few avant-garde black metal genres out there. It would be a vast oversimplification to try to box any great band in this space into a narrow category, but let’s do it anyway, y’know, as a bit. So– two categories: For one, you have your sprawling, strange, sometimes droning, post-everything sound that verges upon leaving the world of metal behind entirely. In contrast, the other version of avant-black revels in metal, jamming sounds from across the extreme metal sonicscape together in ways that just haven’t quite happened.
Hoplites lands squarely in category two with a sound that is blisteringly technical mathcore-tempered dissonant blackened death metal (*huff puff*) that effortlessly blends into roaring headbangable technical thrash. So what does that cluster of nonsense actually sound like? Why is it so good? Why is it a contender for my metal album of the year? It’s in the songwriting. For every swirling dissodeath maelstrom, we get the breathing room of an abyssal thrash groove or a blastbeat-backed blackened death wave. Granted, all of this absolutely never slows down. Once we start, we’re not stopping except for a few breaks between songs. I’ve been throwing around the word “technical” a lot here which may evoke mechanicality, but there is not a lot machine-like about this music. There’s a swirling, incredibly organic, orthodox black metal atmosphere to the whole ordeal, carried by perfect black metal cave goblin growls and whispers. Though played with precision, that classically evil black metal quality gives everything a kind of unmistakable humanity that will be nostalgic for long-time listeners of the genre.
It’s been a while since we’ve bothered with an intro to these. You might notice that it’s May and this is the first one of these this year. We’re getting pretty loose on the “monthly” part. Secondly, the mixtape is pretty much just Mike and I raving about a new-ish record we like. If you think that sounds fun, join us. We like reading about what everyone’s listening to. We don’t coordinate, so it always comes as a surprise to see what the other writes about. We have yet to double up and talk about the same record. Looking up both of the bands this month on Metal Archives though, I noticed that both have a track on the comp Worldwide Organization of Metalheads Against Nazis II. You could say we have a type. But now, onto the music.
Allfather – A Violent Truth (2023, Self-Released)
The painful looking painting on the cover of UK sludge metal band Allfather’s latest album is The Corpses of the De Witt Brothers, a depiction of the political elite de Witt brothers of the Netherlands in 1672, having been torn apart by an angry mob. I am not a historian so I do not know the conditions of the event, but the usage of the image speaks volumes to the rage within and where it’s aimed. Rumbling, groovy, pummeling, antiauthoritarian, antifascist metalhead’s metal is the sonic nature here.
It was the year of Soul Glo. Which I guess shouldn’t be surprising, given that not only did they win the bracket, but they were the most consensus thing we all liked on the most contentious bracket ever. So I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they show up here. Much like the way the year went, any hopes to compile a great representation of folk’s lists ended up instead as just Mike and I talking about the records we liked. So if that’s your kind of thing, dig in. We’re all over the place genre-wise, so there’s gonna be something for you here somewhere.
1. Soul Glo – Diaspora Problems (Epitaph)
Genre: Hardcore Punk, Noise Rap, Screamo
A triumph of personal, uncompromising, music-advancing, eclectic hardcore punk. – Mike Tri // The ultimate Soul Glo release for me, this one wrapped up all of their elements into one unabashedly amazing, completely unique whole. – SteveO
2. Saidan – Onryō II: Her Spirit Eternal (Jems)
Genre: Melodic Black Metal, Melodic Hardcore
Memorable riffs and indescribably soaring leads give Saidan a distinct hypermelodic identity. – Mike Tri // There are few bands who can mix and match the rawness of black metal with bombastic and majestic flourishes like Saidan. – SteveO
The results are in! Last month we named Change the Rotation's 32 favorite albums of 2022. Now we have the results of our 10th annual albums of the year bracket showdown. How did the matchups go down and who was the last album standing? Find out below. First, a little bracketology: four of us (Dave Anians, Danny Collins, Steve O and myself) each submit a list of our favorite full-length albums of the year. Any record appearing on at least two of our lists automatically makes it onto the bracket. The remaining spots are divided evenly between the four of us. Once we have our field of 32, the albums are drawn randomly into their positions on the bracket. All four of us vote on each matchup until we have a champion. Four voters means there are bound to be some ties. We each assign a point value to each album before the voting begins (32 points to our favorite album, 1 point to least favorite). In the case of a tie, we add the four point values for each album to determine the winner. Below, see how it all came out and stream all 32 albums through the links toward the bottom of the post.
Beach Bunny took the first quadrant with their second full-length album, Emotional Creature. Beach Bunny's first album appeared on the 2020 bracket, going out in the first round to The Chats. Pigeon Pit, Je'raf, Bodega and Ho99o9 made their first appearances on the bracket this year.
It's the end of the year and that means it's bracket season at Change the Rotation. AKA the time when we take our 32 favorite albums of the year and pit them against each other in a merciless contest for aural domination. 2022 marks the 10th annual album of the year bracket. Here's how it works: four of us at Change the Rotation (Dave Anians, Danny Collins, Steve O and myself) each make a list of our favorite full-length albums of the year. Any record appearing on at least two of our lists automatically makes it onto the bracket. The remaining spots are divided evenly between the four of us. Once we have our field of 32, the albums are drawn randomly into their positions on the bracket. All four of us vote on each matchup until we have a champion. Four voters means there are bound to be some ties. We each assign a point value to each album before the voting begins (32 points to our favorite album, 1 point to least favorite). In the case of a tie, we add the four point values for each album to determine the winner.
We are running on punk time this year, so a winner won't be crowned until mid to late January. For now, feast your ears upon this year's 32 finalists, Change the Rotation's top albums of 2022:
It’s refreshing to see a genre – atmospheric black metal – that constantly preaches a connection with nature cloaked in almost spiritual terms, being created by an Indigenous artist. Blackbraid is entirely the work of Sgah'gahsowáh, and inspired by the mountains and “depths of the Adirondack wilderness” (woo, Upstate New York represent!). It’s easy to couch Blackbraid in Cascadian vibes – hell, the opening lines of “The River of Time Flows Through Me” are “Deep in the heart of a forgotten hemlock forest” – but regardless of all those atmo-black tropes, Sgah'gahsowáh crafts some exquisite soundscapes, especially if you’re like me and getting ready for those autumn or winter feels.
And we definitely get those mood pieces. “As the Creek Flows Softly By” and “Warm Wind Whispering Softly Through Hemlock at Dusk” are both acoustic, atmospheric interludes. With only six tracks total, it is a bit of a gamble having two be pure instrumental interludes, but remember, we’re going for the feel of the wilderness here and both tracks, with their soothing use of flute over some acoustic guitar (the former) or the acoustic/electric guitar layering (the latter) are legit gorgeous. They definitely evoke the feel of the deep woods just as much as the ravaging black metal does. And a dig through the lyrics certainly reinforces how much we’re hiking through the dark forests here. I appreciate how blatantly Blackbraid adhere to their lyrical themes of choice. The adorations to his Adirondack homeland and Indigenous spirituality are composed with a deft touch, and the bluntness of “Barefoot Ghost Dance on Bloodsoaked Soil” will drive the anti-CRT crowd into a tizzy.
Fellowship – The Saberlight Chronicles (2022, Scarlet Records)
I truly love power metal. The DnD fantasy-filled genre is shredding, neoclassical, hyper-melodic soaring guitars and voices just filled to the brim with absolute cheese. The genre was a gateway to metal for me. The blistering double bass-pedaled pace of Euro power metal greats Sonata Arctica, Rhapsody, and the almighty Dragonforce showed me the path forward by couching metal concepts in vibrant singalongs and wondrous melodic sensibilities. While there have been a few notable exceptions since those times of my high school youth, I have long sought to recapture the hyper-replayability of those old albums and the shining, incredible adrenaline and energy they imbued me with. There is just endless middling power metal, and as much as I love it, power metal just never became a genre where middling was gonna get played by me.
Anyway, the year is 2022 and I am seriously contemplating giving a power metal album a spot on my top ten of the year. Why? Fellowship’s debut album is the hope-filled dose of pure sincerity, optimism, and passion that I needed. It just came at the right time. I have been listening to so, so much raw black metal this year—and granted a lot of that would sound like power metal with better production and different vocals, but like—my point is I’ve been listening to lots and lots of depressing music. It’s been a rough couple of years for me and the world, okay?
Μνήμα – Gathering Sorcery to the Eternal Portals of the Past PT III (2022, Self-Released)
Greek project, Μνήμα (romanized in our boring language as “Mnima”), somehow asks. “What if raw black metal were harder to listen to and get into?” They do this by fusing the screeching nonsense of lo-fi black metal with the screeching nonsense of electronic harsh noise. These unlistenable genres sit surprisingly well together. Lo-fi buzzsaw black metal riffs may as well be generated by some abyssal string of hardwired, noise generating electronics. It’s hard to tell one from the other in the onslaught.
This review is a shoutout to the wild creativity inherent in this project. Seriously, do check out the whole discography, especially this one and their 2022 full-length. It’s all a collection of unique combinations of sounds, eclectic degrees of rawness in production, and just overall is an incredibly playful take on the deep underground black metal sound.
With the few songs on Gathering Sorcery to the Eternal Portals of the Past PT III, Μνήμα hits a perfect stride with its absolutely evil sound, that while it calls to mind Paysage d'Hiver and early Xasthur, I don’t think you could find anywhere else. The unintelligible shrieking goblin vocals that seem to be doing all sorts of random things layered throughout the mix round out an extremely distorted, warbling and layered guitar wall. The piercing harsh noise that sits above the fray feels like a blast of freezing wind weaving into and around everything.
Usually when people talk about depth when it comes to music releases, they mean intricacy, technical complexity, novel songwriting structures, and finding new things every time one comes back to an album. All That Was Promised from New Jersey’s Hath has that. It also has depth in another sense: like a well-worn recliner, this is an album to sink into. It’s comfy. A mystical, sinister quality inhabits the blasting, roaring waves of blackened death metal riffs that permeate the music. Fans of Behemoth’s opus The Satanist will find much to offer here. The sinister nature at play comes off in both dark melodic nuances of these tracks as well as in the rumbling low end of the rhythm section. This is an album to hold up and say here—this here is extreme metal. It’s an archetypical work executed with precision.
As comfy as this album will feel to anyone that has ever engaged with Behemoth or the more epic end of blackened death metal in general, there’s plenty of just goose bumping, heart pumping metal here. After an almost intro-track-like opener to dip you in with “The Million Violations,” track two “Kenosis” unleashes an onslaught in one of the most memorable and fun metal tracks of the year. The way the song builds tension in its early moments is unparalleled, setting you up for a more nuanced-than-you-would-think wall of ritualistic blackened death with a wonderful, infectious growl-a-long chorus any metalhead can get behind. I’ve been menacingly barking, “The call of the red star sets me aflame! It knows my true name!” more often than I’d like to admit. The song serves as a thesis statement for all the fun one can have here.
Later tracks “Decollation” and “Death Complex” show off the band’s ability to flirt with space, tempo, and progressive death metal overtones with the former featuring a quiet, clean departure before slamming headlong like a train into one of the best climaxes on the album. Moments of muted Opeth-ian reflection dot the latter half of the record allowing us time to breathe from all the metal as fuck moments. This album has a lot to offer to anyone with the time to take a listen. It’ll fit like a glove for any extreme metalhead into the more massive-sounding, higher concept side of the genre. – Mike Tri
Saidan – Onryō II: Her Spirit Eternal (2022, Jems Label)
I was extremely annoyed to find all physical releases for Saidan’s 2nd full-length album, the second the two person Nashville melodic black metal project would release in just under thirteen months, had sold out an hour after their release. I found this out a week after the album had dropped when I learned that, in fact, one of my absolute favorite metal albums of 2021 had a sequel. That 2021 album, Jigoku: Spiraling Chasms of the Blackest Hell, was raw melodic black metal heavily influenced by, of all things, J-rock with absolutely soaring melodies couched in-between explorations of highly dark and undead, ghostly J-horror atmospheres.
The riffs, the drums, the rip-roaring vocals – they were all baseline great, but it was the songwriting centered around emotional melodic climaxes that took the listener soaring from deep under a dark, stormy night sky and straight into the brightness of the sun that truly gripped me. And then, it always went even further. The songs this band produced were about just building up and building up, leads and riffs evolving and climbing into explosions that only the best post-rock and cheesiest power metal might parallel.
Onryō II: Her Spirit Eternal is at its heart more of that, but in many ways it’s even more unashamedly bright and shining melodic black metal. The dark and claustrophobic moodiness of the previous release has been mostly set aside to fully embrace the overwhelming sonic firestorm of hyper melodic angst-filled riffage and leads that Mr. Saidan and his drummer have already demonstrated they are extremely capable of. The production is a couple notches cleaner, allowing all nuances and even lyrics of Saidan’s varied growling and soaring high black metal shrieks to come through. Drummer Shadosai, while definitely not being center-stage, provides a very competent driving blast for the duration. The cleaner production allows the flirting and experimentation with other genres to be ever more apparent.
Capra – In Transmission (2021, Metal Blade Records)
Before flipping the calendar completely over, I wanna take a quick look back at one of the highlights from 2021 in Louisiana hardcore band Capra’s debut In Transmission. It felt too metal than hardcore for our regular bracket, but too punk and not metal enough to grab a place on our metal mixtape favorites. But there should be no doubt about it, In Transmission absolutely fucking rips, from whichever direction you want to approach it.
Full of great blast beats and frenetic riffing, there’s a lot to like about this sneakily good metallic hardcore debut that probably (undeservedly) slipped under a lot of radars. It is fast and heavy, with songs like “Samuraiah Carey” or “The Locust Preacher” unleashing an absolute fury. But Capra’s adept at slowing down to build tension too; look at tunes like “Torture Ship,” where there’s also an anger and aggression to those transitory moments that starts approaching the sludge level their home state is more known for. A lot of this is specifically driven by Crow Lotus’ phenomenally furious vocal delivery, with the rage and passion spitting forth with every political line, like in “Red Guillotine,” which takes on the societal treatment of women. Her performance is undeniably one of the highest points among what’s also a musically strong release. The shorter songs are explosive, cramming such an equal amount of intensity into their shorter run time and it all flows together seamlessly. It’s a thrilling debut and a wonderful example of what metallic hardcore sounds like in 2021. And even though that year sucked and we all wanna forget it, it’s worth looking back if it means getting Capra on your radar. – SteveO
The hardest part about putting together a list of favorite records in a year isn’t exactly deciding on who makes the cut. It’s realizing how many great records you’re probably missing and wanting to go back and listen to them. Next thing you know, you’re like a month behind schedule, and you just gotta make the cut and go with your initial list, or this is never gonna stop. And that’s what is so great about getting lists from a handful of folks. I might have slept on it, but someone else caught it, and lifted it up, and now you get to read about it here. So huge thanks to Mike, Kevin, James, and Danny for contributing some of their favorites to our collective list.
A note about methodology – we all made lists and anything that repeated itself ends up higher. Our first six records all got multiple shout-outs, and the higher they were on our individual lists, the higher they ended up on our collective one. After that point I simply just spun the wheel of names to get a random list based on where we had them ranked. What we have below contains all those that got their name tossed into the ring at least twice, plus all of our individual top fives. And then the remainder are honorable mentions below. Enjoy!
Carcass - Torn Arteries (Nuclear Blast) - Has everything I love about Carcass. Feels closer to Heartwork and Necroticism than Surgical Steel. – Cry Baby Hank / / Multi-decade melodic death metal veterans reemerge with another inexplicably, impossibly catchy and tightly written album of bangers, but this time with the mid-paced endlessly groovy death n' roll part cranked up. – Mike Tri / / Just straight up solid, slightly melodic death metal, from beginning to end; no dips whatsoever. After swearing that Carcass’ earlier, more grind stuff was better, I think I’ve pretty much changed my mind to their late era melo-death. – SteveO
Portrayal of Guilt – We Are Always Alone (Closed Casket Activities) – For every release that came out after this in January, I kept asking myself “Is this as good as the new Portrayal of Guilt?” This album absolutely slaughters EVERYTHING. They decided to put out another sick album called Christfucker in November just to make sure they were bookending 2021 with the sickest shit of the year. – James Bauman / / Unsettlingly evil, infectiously catchy, with inventive riffs. Blackened screamo, a black metal and screamo blend with a touch of hardcore, perfected if it ever could be. – Mike Tri / / In a year where there was a new Full of Hell record, the fact that Portrayal of Guilt managed to make an uglier, noisier, more abrasive and intense record (and managed to do so twice!) that drew influence from across the board was quite a way to ring in the year. – SteveO
Full of Hell – Garden of Burning Apparitions (Relapse) – Full of Hell somehow manages to get heavier and nosier with slick production on this album. Still has a punk edge to it, but it’s firmly rooted in metal. – Danny Collins / / As if Full of Hell wasn’t intense enough already, they up the extremity across the board. More death, more grind, more noise, more powerviolence, more mathcore? More everything. – SteveO
Converge & Chelsea Wolfe – Bloodmoon: I (Epitaph) – A perfect fusion of both artists sounds into an atmospheric, incredibly melodic sludge and hardcore album that is far greater and surprisingly far more novel than the sum of its parts. – Mike Tri / / A perfect blend of the intensity of Converge and the darkness of Chelsea Wolfe. Impressive up front, but each listen brings out more nuance that this cast of seven built and only make the esteem of this record grow. It’s gonna be a benchmark that we compare collaborations to going forward. – SteveO
Tribulation – Where the Gloom Becomes Sound (Century Media) – Gothic metal done right – these heavy hitters deserve their place in the mega popular metal pantheon with songwriting, riffs, and leads that hit just right. – Mike Tri / / Incredible gothic metal, some borrowed intensity and vibes from their death metal days. Whether rollicking or going more slow and doomed out with mid-pace tunes, these songs are all up in your face, forcing you to take notice, particularly the first half. – SteveO
The results are in! Last month we named Change the Rotation's 32 favorite albums of 2021. Now we have the results of our 9th annual albums of the year bracket beatdown. How did the matchups go down and who was the last album standing? Find out below. First, a little bracketology: four of us (Dave Anians, Danny Collins, Steve O and myself) each submit a list of our favorite full-length albums of the year. Any record appearing on at least two of our lists automatically makes it onto the bracket. The remaining spots are divided evenly between the four of us. Once we have our field of 32, the albums are drawn randomly into their positions on the bracket. All four of us vote on each matchup until we have a champion. Four voters means there are bound to be some ties. We each assign a point value to each album before the voting begins (32 points to our favorite album, 1 point to least favorite). In the case of a tie, we add the four point values for each album to determine the winner. Below, see how it all came out, stream all 32 albums through the links toward the bottom of the post, and finally, a video of this year's virtual voting if you want to see how each individual matchup went down.
The Muslims took region 1 with their Epitaph debut Fuck These Fuckin Fascists. This is their third time on the bracket - Mayo Supreme finished second in 2019. Amyl and the Sniffers and Blind Adam and the Federal League return for their second times on the bracket. This is the first time on the bracket for the remainder of this quadrant.
It's the end of the year and that means it's bracket season at Change the Rotation. AKA the time when we take our 32 favorite albums of the year and pit them against each other in a merciless contest for aural domination. 2021 marks the 9th annual album of the year bracket. Here's how it works: four of us at Change the Rotation (Dave Anians, Danny Collins, Steve O and myself) each make a list of our favorite full-length albums of the year. Any record appearing on at least two of our lists automatically makes it onto the bracket. The remaining spots are divided evenly between the four of us. Once we have our field of 32, the albums are drawn randomly into their positions on the bracket. All four of us vote on each matchup until we have a champion. Four voters means there are bound to be some ties. We each assign a point value to each album before the voting begins (32 points to our favorite album, 1 point to least favorite). In the case of a tie, we add the four point values for each album to determine the winner.
We are running on punk time this year, so a winner won't be crowned until mid to late January. For now, feast your ears upon this year's 32 finalists, Change the Rotation's top albums of 2021:
Friendly reminder for the holiday season – buy stuff from your local shops. Like all these records, hit up your local record shops to find them. They need the support more than some idiot who wants to shoot himself into space.
Amon Amarth – Fate of Norns (2004, Metal Blade Records)
I’ve been on a nostalgia kick lately, so we’re going way back to Amon Amarth’s 2004 entry, Fate of Norns, which was their fifth full length and my introduction to the band in either my sophomore or junior year of high school (memories are hazy, this was over fifteen years ago either way). At the time it was a groundbreaking thing; I was getting into more of that Scandinavian melo-death of bands like Children of Bodom or Kalmah (it would take me a bit longer to dive into the Gothenburg bands of the 90s), and Amon Amarth would become one of my favorites for the next decade, pumping out solid melodic, Viking-infused death metal. Coming shortly after the Lord of the Rings movies (the world where Amon Amarth took their name from), I was really into fantasy and mythology, so the overwhelming Norse mythology and tales of Vikings in their lyrics was right in my wheelhouse. The (now looking really grainy) video for “The Pursuit of Vikings,” with its synchronized windmill headbanging was badass. It was influential stuff.
It’s been a while since we’ve had one of these, but this is a perfect one to revive punk rock book club with. If you loved Michael Azerrad’s Our Band Could Be Your Life, but wished there was an updated version, this is the book you’ve been dreaming of. Dan Ozzi’s Sellout: The Major-Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore (1994-2007), takes the tenets of Our Band Could Be Your Life and flips it. Instead of wrapping up the story once the ink dried on the major-label contract, Ozzi chronicles each bands’ story and includes the nitty-gritty details of signing that big deal, recording that much-anticipated record, and in some instances the implosion that came next. In addition to biographing each band, Ozzi peers behind the curtain into the boardrooms, giving more insight into how those major-labels operated than most punks would probably care about. He also shares some context on smaller scenes, indie labels, and how the whole world of music changed over the decade-plus span covered.
To save you from looking it up, Sellout covers Green Day’s Dookie, Jawbreaker’s Dear You, Jimmy Eat World’s Static Prevails, Blink-182’s Dude Ranch, At the Drive-In’s Relationship of Command, The Donnas’ Spend the Night, Thursday’s War All the Time, The Distillers’ Coral Fang, My Chemical Romance’s Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, Rise Against’s Siren Song of the Counter Culture, and Against Me!’s New Wave. I get why a book like this needs to start with Green Day, and though it feels like that story has been told a bunch, one of the things Ozzi does well (most markedly with Green Day, but throughout as well) is establish a context for the world these stories were happening in. For Green Day, it was leaving the Maximum Rocknroll/Gilman Street scene and filling the vacuum left by Nirvana after Kurt Cobain’s death. Along with the insight into how the major-labels were operating, it takes the eye-roll of ‘another Green Day chapter’ into something more interesting.
Happy Halloween, everybody. After missing last month cause time speed way the hell home, this month flew by too. Enjoy the cool days and changing colors with this pair of noisy records.
Full of Hell – Garden of Burning Apparitions (2021, Relapse)
Back in 2017, we at Change the Rotation put Full of Hell’s Trumpeting Ecstasy on our year end bracket. It was maybe a little controversial, as it’s open to argument how “punk” that record actually is. Regardless, some of us were huge fans and some of us kinda despised it to the point where those of us who were huge fans used it as a taunt/joke against those who weren't so enamored. Obviously, I fell into the camp of being a huge fan, which is why I’m bringing Full of Hell back onto the CTR radar to talk about their chaotically awesome newest output, Garden of Burning Apparitions.
Starting with a bang, or more accurately a throat-ruining shout, Full of Hell starts grinding away with the sub-minute “Guided Blight.” Full of shrieks and growls and grunts amongst a grind/death/powerviolence cacophony, we’re kicking things into high gear. If it wasn’t clear by now that Garden of Burning Apparitions is going to be an amalgam of every genre thrown into the blender to see what comes out, follow-up “Asphyxiant Blessing” hides nothing about the game plan. We get some atonal riffs, that sound like they’ve been gleaned from the Dillinger Escape Plan school of math(core), but somehow that leads smoothly into some drenching doom/death in the second half of the song, straight from the generation that grew up with those two genres fitting together seamlessly. “Reeking Tunnels” has some big time mid-paced punk/post-punk feels, while “Burning Apparition” also feels like a nod to their grindcore/hardcore/punk background. Full of Hell’s patented take on noise is present, both in the interlude-ish “Non-Atomism” and the masterful “Derelict Satellite.” The latter, one of two songs cresting three minutes on an album full of minute-long blasters, is full of gargling, feedback-driven squelches veering toward harsh noise and closes with these wonderful lines: “When burning shrapnel / Collides with our world / Utopia will rise to drown us.” There’s poetry buried under all the rubble of genres that were deconstructed to make this beast.
I had no idea what I was getting into with Spanish Love Songs. I ordered Brave Faces Everyone for the library I work at, thinking it might go over well. I hadn’t heard them before and figured they were one of those indie/punk/emo bands that populate the Pure Noise Records roster, but maybe a couple notches closer to the indie side of the scale. So imagine my surprise when I get a band that reminds so much of the Menzingers instead. The ten songs that make up Brave Faces Everyone hit a lot of the same vibes as the recent Menzingers records, but it also reminded me of a poppier version of Off With Their Heads or Arms Aloft. Or Junior Battles or the Wonder Years if they sounded dark and moody instead of being so upbeat.
You know a record is catchy when you find yourself singing along at the top of your lungs in your car while driving to work, despite never having looked up the lyrics. Spanish Love Songs write choruses that ingrain themselves into your head, straight out of the OWTH school of self-deprecation. “It won’t be this bleak forever / Yeah right / I hope you’re right / Have you seen me lately?” from “Self-Destruction (As A Sensible Career Choice).” “My bleak mind says it’s cheaper just to die / The prick inside my head’s / laid off and daring me to try / My bleak mind says this is all you got / Hoping all this time but all you’ll find is / It gets harder, doesn’t it?” from “Losers.” Or maybe my favorite line on the whole record, in opener “Routine Pain”, a sly, little (and I hope intentional) nod to Motörhead: “Everything lower than everything else.” Then there’s “Losers 2” a perfect lyrical ode for a generation that sees the rich get richer while trying harder to stay afloat – “Don’t you know you were born to die poor man? / Don’t you know that you’re gonna do yourself in? / And you’ll always wake up tired / Cause there’s nowhere to go from here.” Lyrical perfection for the struggling generation.
What a difference a month makes, eh? In July we were all feeling good, things started feeling like we were shifting back to normal again, there wasn’t that overarching dread surrounding everything. A month later it kinda feels like we’re all starting all over again. Granted, we should have seen this coming – July 2021 was basically February 2020. So if you still need to hear it, wear a mask, get a vax, keep people safe in the decisions you make. Really, we all should have learned this by now. Stay safe out there.
Heavy Sentence – Bang to Rights (2021, Dying Victims Productions)
Heavy Sentence exists at the classic metal intersection of Iron Maiden and Motörhead. Classic metal is at least what I start calling it when a band like this seems to amorphously be pulling from everything in the NWOBHM playbook. Everything here has been done before, and sometimes that’s just what you want to hear. Catchy riffs, catchy leads, great songwriting, headbang-able, singalong-able. A Motörhead-like punk tinge comes through with the strained barking, shout-singing, and cathartic screams of G. Howells. His gruff vocals, delivered in a rough sort-of belting or with a hard rock swagger, are the glue that ties everything together here. You’ll be yelling “OOOOH MEDUSA” like him on the opener in no time. You’ll be screaming along to the fiery delivery of “MANIAC! MANIAC!” alongside the super hype start-stop riffing in “Age of Fire,” my personal favorite cut here. Come have a listen to one of the best, no-nonsense cuts of heavy metal this year. – Mike Tri
One of the best parts about doing the bracket is finding out about all the cool records you missed throughout the year. If it slipped past my radar, somebody else probably caught it. Still, there are records that we all miss the boat on. Murder By Death’s 2018 release The Other Shore is one of those that we all somehow missed. For me, Murder By Death feels a part of that DeKalb era – they’d come through and play the House Café and there’d always be a bunch of us that would go. For whatever reason, I didn’t keep up with them after that point. Which makes getting into The Other Shore that much more exciting. It’s like meeting up with an old friend again after years have passed. All the familiar parts are still there, from Sarah Balliet’s hauntingly majestic cello melodies to Adam Turla’s thought-provoking lyrics and incredibly distinctive and powerful vocals.
The Other Shore starts off with “Alas,” five minutes that remind me everything I loved about Murder By Death. There’s times where Turla’s voice reaches into the Johnny Cash register, reinforcing just how good of a singer he is and spotlighting that if he ever wanted to go on a man-in-black-eqsue detour he’d surely knock it out of the park. Both “Chasing Ghosts” and “True Dark” are more up-tempo and highlight how unique their sound is when Balliet’s cello takes the lead; in “Stone” it’s the driving force, propelling the song along, meshing perfectly with the emotion in Turla’s voice and some horns.
Chicago hardcore punks Uglybones return with a blast of breakdowns and pent up aggression. Uglybones have always offered something engaging for "hardcore listeners" and "punk listeners", if those are in fact different people. On 2018's Sunshine, songs like "Animal" really started tipping the scales toward hardcore. The band continues that push on Erasure. Title track "Erasure" is my favorite of the bunch. You can practically sense the high kicks coming around in the pit as the "total erasure" chant rolls through. It's one of the few songs clocking in at longer than 2 minutes on the album, along with "Cheetah" and closer "Night Sun". It doesn't sound like a lot but it does give those songs time to build and explore their space. Of course, songs like "A Promise" and "Hoax" pack a brutal punch at around one minute each.
"Gasoline" is another standout, largely due to the line "I like the smell of gas" and the following heavy section laced with metal guitar licks. Lyrically, the album goes for themes of the times - distrust, disillusionment, disappointment, all those dis- words. Plus anger.
I don’t know about anybody else, but I always find myself listening to less metal during the summer. There’s just something about the hotter weather and the brighter sun that just feels something contradictory. Regardless, dig into some of these for a variation on your summertime jams.
Feminazgûl – No Dawn for Men (2020, Self-Released)
Trying something different this time – instead of long, rambling paragraphs, we’re going rapid fire bullet points.
First off, in the pantheon of awesome names for black metal bands, Feminazgûl definitely deserves a place. A portmanteau of feminazi and nazgûl is brilliant, especially with lyrical themes focusing on feminism, anti-fascism, and Tolkien.
In a wonderfully fun coincidence, Margaret Killjoy, who handles virtually all of the instruments here, is also an author, whose work I stumbled upon at work in what can only be referred to as a revelatory discovery. Her Danielle Cain stories are short novellas about anarcho-squatters hunting demons. It’s fantastic.
Musically, there’s a lot more mid-paced work going on here. The opener “Illa, Mother of Death” kind of has this slow, industrial-feeling pace, with these ren-faire-esque atmospherics going on in the background, thanks to the mournful accordion. “I Pity the Immortal” has this martial paced drumming. Mid-paced with underlying atmosphere is their thing.
Vocalist Laura Beach has an absolutely throat ruining rasp, and it really shines on tracks like “The Rot in the Field Is Holy” or “Bury the Antlers With the Stag.” Speaking of “Bury the Antlers With the Stag,” this is the most ripping black metal track here, it’s fast-paced and it kicks ass.
Instrumental “Look Not to Erebor” is the most blatantly Tolkien thing, borrowing some soundscapes. While “Forgiver, I Am Not Yours” is this hazy/foggy interlude piece. It’s a neat change of pace.
For good measure, “To the Throat” and “In the Shadow of Dead Gods” are both re-recordings from their demo. “To the Throat” in particular shows them excelling at that mid-paced, long form black metal. – Steve O
Oh man, I dropped the ball on this one. Cry Baby Hank raves about Japanese black metal legends Sabbat, while Mike enlightens us to Nashville’s Saidan who apply inspiration from Japanese folklore into their black metal. We had a whole theme going. The opportunity was there for me to rant about how amazing Sigh is; whether it’s the raw black metal of Scorn Defeat that Euronymous released on Deathlike Silence or their spazzed-out avant-garde black metal on recent releases like Scenes from Hell or In Somniphobia, they’re truly one of the most creative and consistent underground bands out there. And instead I couldn’t shut up and resist talking about the new Panopticon record. Enjoy some black metal regardless, folks.
Panopticon – ...and Again into the Light (2021, Bindrune Recordings)
There are few people who I look forward to hearing their latest musical output like I do with Austin Lunn. The Panopticon mastermind, who’s been on an unstoppable creative run since 2012’s landmark Kentucky, writes instantly recognizable material and seamlessly blends folk music with his brand of atmospheric black metal. Whereas on his previous release, 2018’s The Scars of Man on the Once Nameless Wilderness, these elements were largely separated into two distinct halves, his latest, ...and Again into the Light, mixes them all together. Opener “...and Again into the Light” is an entirely somber folk piece, feeling right at home with part two of The Scars of Man…, and the first quarter of follow up “Dead Loons” continues as such. It’s only about three minutes into “Dead Loons” when this starts sounding like a metal record. Now this opening stretch is impressive and the heights (or should I say lengths) he reaches on “Dead Loons” highlights one of the themes with this record: long – we’re talking eleven, twelve minutes – songs that pass through multiple movements over their run time. “Dead Loons,” “A Snowless Winter,” “The Embers at Dawn,” and “Know Hope” are all like this and all sit right up there in the pantheon of stellar songs Lunn has crafted.
With its doomy pace and haunting strings, sections of “Dead Loons” feel like a My Dying Bride tune at times. When it transitions into black metal it hits hard – I’ve long been a fan of Lunn’s absolutely hammering drums – but maintains that sense of melancholy and melody due to the presence of strings. They weave in and out, and make this music that really pulls at your heartstrings (pun fully intended). There’s also a stretch where Lunn straight up shreds, which feels like a bit of on outlier as we don’t see that too often on his records, followed by a stretch where the violin straight up shreds, before an atmospheric/ambient-esque outro. Pure majesty.
Anybody been watching the NHL playoffs and finding it absurd how some of the rinks are cramming 12,000-plus people into them already? And seeing them shouting and yelling with nary a mask in sight and thinking, this is fucking ridiculous? (Just watched the first game in Canada with fans back in the building and nearly every pan to the crowd showed people masked up; god we’re such an embarrassment.) Nope? Just me. Well if you feel like staying in your isolation bubble too, be sure to use these grimy records to keep you company.
Coffin Lurker - Foul and Defiled (2021, Sentient Ruin)
Part of what I like about doing these monthly write ups is listening to something a little outside of my usual sphere. This one is way out of the ballpark and across the street, let’s say six feet under the alley and rotten. This is like you’re trapped in a well for weeks, surviving on vermin and someone finally appears at the top of the well. They toss a rope down. You take whatever strength you have left to pull on the rope, which is attached to an angry manticore who then roars right into the well, punishing your ears as it echoes around the cylinder. I know what you’re thinking, manticores aren’t real! You might start to wonder after being in a well all that time.
Coffin Lurker’s debut album inspires despair. The Dutch duo sludge their way through half an hour of doom. The murky guitar is as indecipherable as the growling vocals. Five songs of brutal, slow, unrelenting decay. Foul and Defiled comes out on June 7 and you can get a wretched taste of it after the jump.
It was either when I interviewed him a handful of years ago for this site or one of the times we were hanging out when Joe Vickers was down here in Chicago to play a show, but we both talked about how much we like the ‘complete album package’ idea and getting lost in the music and reading along with the lyrics. Listening to records is a whole experience that you don’t get when you just stream a song. So it should come as no surprise that Vickers’ new record, Waiting on a Muse, goes full force ahead into that idea, with what’s basically a chapbook for the insert, with notes, lyrics, chords (is there anything more punk than including how to play your songs?), and photographs. It’s a gorgeous presentation and reinforces the fact that music is more than just something you play on your phone.
Musically, Waiting on a Muse is a folk treasure. It’s a mixture of all folk song traditions – you get the slow, plaintive, mournful tunes (such as “Moses Lake Diner,” “Spiral Stairs,” “Keeper of the Flame,” “Artery of the Continent”) along with upbeat, catchy, storyteller numbers like “Gunshy,” “Deadly Sins,” or “Thief-Taker.” There’s the odes to those that came before and inspirational figures, like in “Stray Bullet,” or the straight up, standing-on-the-shoulders-of-giants tribute of “Any Other Way,” a cheery, inspirational tip of the cap to all folksingers/troubadours/wanderers/etc. It also sums a love for playing and sharing music with a perfect succinctness – “I sing for my supper and a bed on a stranger’s floor / I sing for the downtrodden and the long lost troubadours / I sing for the song’s sake / I don’t know any other way” – that mirrors Against Me!’s “Reinventing Axl Rose” mindset.
So little PSA to start this off this month. I’ve been reading Louder Than Hell: The Definitive Oral History of Metal by Jon Wiederhorn and Katherine Turman which is this huge, 700 page guided tour through, more or less, all the subgenres of metal. It’s cool and I’d recommend it if that’s the kind of thing you’re interested in. But my main point is that there are lots of neat books like this – memoirs or academic studies or journalistic accounts of music scenes and bands – out there. And your local library might have a couple of them. But they’re probably not very popular and probably don’t get checked out a lot. So, if you think this kind of stuff is worth having around, and if you’re reading this you probably do, head to your local library and check out some of their music books. The less often they are checked out the more likely they are to get thrown out. So help keep them around so some kid can stumble upon them and get their life changed by this new discovery.
Body Void – Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth (2021, Prosthetic Records)
In recent years, the extreme metal branch of queercore has been flourishing. Off the top of my head I can name Vile Creature, Thou, Hirs, Liturgy, and of course – Body Void. Since 2014, the New England-based band have been producing molten, primordial blackened sludge doom. It’s only with the band’s 2019 EP, You Will Know the Fear You Forced Upon Us, did I take notice of the ferocious talents of vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Willow Ryan and drummer Edward Holgerson. As a massive fan of Burning Witch’s album Crippled Lucifer and of all shades of the new(er) school of atmospheric blackened sludge doom in Thou, Primitive Man, and Amenra, Body Void give me everything that I love in the genre mesh they so comfortably inhabit. Molasses slow grooves that are played on repeat for at least five minutes at a time? Check. Emotive throat-shredding vocals? A low-end so low, so distorted, and so loose that at times it just sounds like electronic noise? Check. Seemingly endless ringing guitar sustain? Check.
The impressively skilled Willow Ryan plays guitar, bass, and delivers the distinct anguished shrieking on the record. Ryan is non-binary, and Body Void as a band name and project is one that they have said relates directly to their relationship to their body and mental health as a trans person. Lyrically, on Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth, the relationship between the living body and our decaying, dying earth is poetically explored. The record closes out with the track “Pale Man,” a lament about living on colonized land stolen by the pale men of yesteryear in and under the white supremacist systems they established. Much like their 2019 EP, the unrelenting anger here remains sharply pointed upward as the band’s antifascist and antiracist themes continue in grief-filled explorations of ecological destruction. While mostly intentionally uniform in its crushing aesthetic, the surprises this album offers come in the form of a perfectly raw and heavy production, moments of near headache inducing bit-crushed distortion in oddball low sound frequencies, and the occasional ephemeral off-kilter tempo shift into hardcore. It’s a perfect album to headbang extremely slowly to. – Mike Tri
Maybe I'm biased, but there is something so perfect about the word "Chicago" being crooned out in a song at just the right time. It's a tradition handed down from the godfathers of local emo punk, Alkaline Trio. I'm sure someone did it before them, but it's hard to forget the wistful chorus of "I'm Dying Tomorrow." Kali Masi hits a sentimental note about two-thirds of the way into "Freer," just as the song starts to pick up and the fireworks start to blow off in the video. "Under an orange glow / sweet autumn only knows Chicago / Like rents un-payable and your fist through the wall / and the insatiable need to be." It's a picturesque setting coupled with weighty reality. That's the balance struck on much of this record - tonally, lyrically and visually.
"Still Life" builds up from soft delivery to endless staircase, building straight through the end of the song, still reaching for something. It's an impactful opening for the album. The ending of "Still Life" blasts straight into "Paint Me Jade," a shorter, more straightforward punk song. [laughs] never stays too low for too long, usually building steadily to a crescendo, sometimes jumping ahead with quick jabs. The best songs here take their time. It doesn't take many listens to get swept along for the ride.
One of the fun things about doing this is seeing how diverse the list we end up getting is. None of these four records really sound much alike at all. Each one falls into its own genre, but that overarching idea of metal holds them all together despite all their variables. So, if you like one of these, that’s not a guarantee that you’re gonna like another. Hell, it doesn’t even mean you’ll recognize what’s going on in the other. But by the same token, if you’ve got a picky palate, there’s something for you. If you’ll try just about anything? Well then, you’re in luck, cause you’ll probably find some part of all of these that you’ll enjoy.
Darkthrone – Under A Funeral Moon (1993, Peaceville Records)
Listening side by side, A Blaze in the Northern Sky and Under a Funeral Moon are wildly different. Funeral is a much more accurate representation of the Norwegian Black Metal scene of the time. The sound is thinner, despite the bass being much more present. It leans less on that chaotic feel and opts for a more hypnotic approach; at least in regard to “Natassja in Eternal Sleep” and “Summer of the Diabolical Holocaust.” It's not a drastic change but the shift is notable especially given the tone of Transilvanian Hunger. Overall this album feels much 'colder' as silly as that is to say; so grim, much kvlt. I will say, Funeral is my least favorite album of the three. It doesn't move me the way Blaze and Hunger do. At times it feels like more energy was devoted to making a 'true' black metal album rather than making a truly great black metal album. It can lag a bit at times and it doesn't convey the same sense of power that Blaze does. Some songs are too short and don't feel fully explored. Despite these minor faults, the careful crafting of certain riffs peppered throughout really saves the album. The interaction of the guitar and bass definitely strengthens the album which is something Blaze was lacking; though I don't feel that album suffers for it. The choices made in “Crossing the Triangle of Flames” leaves me feeling satisfied overall with the album as a whole. Fenriz uses this weird stuttering beat on the hi hat in a few places which works against the guitar and lends a sense of discord within the song's structure. There's a great dirgey outro starting at about the 4 minute mark that embodies how great this album can work. The use of these Hellraiser-esque bells as the music fades out is very effective in my opinion; especially with the punctuation of that boomy (almost too loud) floor tom. As a whole this album hits all the marks of what a black metal album should be. However, it can feel less inspired at times when considered alongside Blaze and Hunger. – Cry Baby Hank
New track roundup: Butchered, UGLYBoNES, Poison Boys, Kali Masi
Phil Collins - March 18, 2021
Through the haze of social media algorithms, it's easy to lose songs that you meant to check out later. By the time later comes around, you're there scratching your head trying to remember who posted a new video or song or update 2 or 12 days ago ... it must have been the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. I actually love ska and they do have a new song out but that's beside the point. Without further ado, a roundup of some new songs released by Chicago area punk bands in the last 2 or 12 days!
Butchered - "Born to Run with Scissors"
This is a recently-released video for a song off Butchered's album Wax Pathetic, which came out last November. The album was on Change the Rotation's album of the year bracket, where it did lose to a ska album but hey, making it into the field of 32 means we liked that album a hell of a lot. It's catchy pop punk with a good sense of humor. Check out the album at Bandcamp and watch the video after the jump.
Are you ready to rock?! Well, Wenches don’t care what your answer is, so you better get ready to rock out with Effin’ Gnarly, which is, well, pretty effin’ gnarly. Straight up filthy and fuzzy rock n roll, this is what happens when you have guys with histories in metal and punk who decide they just wanna rock. 70s rock influences are filtered through that booze-blurred lens and the result absolutely rips. Full disclosure here, vocalist James is a good friend and regular contributor to this site, regularly giving you recommendations in our Monthly Metal Mixtape and guesting us a year-end best-of list.
The formula here is to play with dynamics – look at songs like “Mama, Wake Up,” “My Lady's on Fire,” or “Break Up to Make Up.” Mid-tempo fuzzed-out rockers with loud, quiet, loud passages. In each one you get some hard-driving moments that give way to more stripped-down passages that give you a breather to run to the bar to grab another drink and by the time you get back it’s time to rock the fuck out again, at which point you promptly spill your drink or wave it above your head in sheer exuberance, expelling its contents all over your fellow sweat-and-beer soaked peers who have been doing exactly the same thing. Then it’s time to repeat during the next song. Damn do you miss shows as much as me?
For once I’d love to write one of these where nothing happened during the month. No dramatic news-cycle altering event that shakes us all while we kinda pretend to do something about it without addressing any root causes. I won’t go on that soapbox about how climate change is making extreme weather events like we saw in Texas more commonplace, instead I’ll just drop a list of mutual aid resources here.
Darkthrone – A Blaze in the Northern Sky (1992, Peaceville Records)
OK, I'm sure this is a total copout to talk about such a prominent album from such a prominent band but I don't care. Darkthrone had a profound effect on me growing up. And to make matters worse, I'm going to talk about the rest of Darkthrone's 'Unholy Trinity' over the next few months. So, I'm sorry and... you're welcome? I first saw this album when I was a teenager. It was in the extreme metal section of a small record store in Chicago surrounded by intensely colorful, gory albums. Stark black and minimal, it stood out like a beacon. You couldn't not see it. And behind it were Under a Funeral Moon and Transilvanian Hunger. A trio of similar album covers, unity of image and style. I didn't know what it was but I had to have them. I only bought Blaze because I was cheap as hell but after listening to it all night, I knew I had to go back the next day to get the rest. I was afraid they'd sell out and I'd never be able to find it (I was young, gimme a break).
When I first put Blaze on, I didn't know what the hell to expect with that intro. It was so outside of my frame of reference. I was mostly listening to thrash, death, and groove metal; polished, technical music. But when the song kicked in, I was floored. The hair stood up on the back of my neck. I was hooked. It was raw as hell, ugly, and stripped down. It sounded like the kind of shit me and my buddy would record on my dad's old tape recorder; but ya know, good. It showed me what was possible. I couldn't drum like Pete Sandoval, but I could play like Fenriz. That was my first foray into black metal. But I understand now that it's not strictly a 'black metal' album. Fenriz mentioned in some old interview that the riffs were effectively death metal but played in a black metal style (I'm paraphrasing terribly). Maybe that's why it was such a strong entry album. A lot of Nocturno Culto and Zephyrous' riffs had an underlying familiarity to it. That little riff that they tease you with 2 minutes into “Kathaarian Life Code” reminded me of “The Exorcist” by Possessed. There's a lot of weird, almost hypnotic guitar phrases like that; especially the riffs in “Paragon Belial”. And a lot of those other riffs would make perfect sense being played by an OSDM or Death-Doom band. But the truly distinct thing for me is the drumming. Fenriz's playing showed me just how much drums can shape the feel of a song. And of course there's Fenriz's cheat beat; I started to refer to it as 'railing'. It's imperfect but so much more powerful to my ears than a traditional blast beat. Less of a wall of sound, it's more dynamic; a pulsing rhythm. It offsets the thinned-out 'buzzsaw' sound of the guitars perfectly. The whole album is just this perfect marriage of melancholic passages, weird guitar phrases, reverb drenched vocals, and killer OSDM riffs played in a wholly new style. It changed the face of music for me and showed just how much more was possible. – Cry Baby Hank
Chicago post-hardcore group The Ableist released their long marinating self-titled debut album last month. Fuzzy rhythm meets shouted vocals with pensive, ruminating lyrics. If you've seen this band live in the last couple years, you probably will recognize some of these songs. Particularly "Written in Red" which tends to be a highlight of the set. It epitomizes the band's sound complete with exuberant driving vocals and bass-heavy rhythm. Powerful lyrics are delivered in a triumphant cadence. "The arm of Justice raised and bare // Her sword upheld, gleams its glare // Mothers, fathers your stern cries // Have burned my soul in this reprise // Written in red our protest stands // Illuminate! Seize the lands! // Set it alight by roaring flame // Emancipate! Our earth reclaimed!"
Most songs on the album don't have such a big chorus. The lyrics are more concerned with storytelling in imagery, setting and character. The relentless drumbeat of time, class disparity and how we treat each other are topics a lot of us are thinking about these days. This album ultimately serves as a call to action - to reject the status quo and stand for justice. As the spirit of Paul Robeson says in "Early in May", "Do not be harnessed by your fear // A greater world lies ahead // Ignore what is currently”.
Every year when we do the bracket there end up being a ton of deserving records on each of our respective lists that are awesome and we just don’t have space for all of them. For as shitty as 2020 was, there were a lot of great records that were released. So many that it seems like more deserving records than usual got left off the bracket. Below find eight of my favorites that got left out of the year-end festivities.
ACxDC – Satan is King
I love that there’s a new ACxDC record out the same year as a new AC/DC record. So I could mess with people and instead of playing them some Australian classic rock, they got a slap of powerviolence with songs like “Copsucker,” “Maggot Museum,” or the absolutely brilliantly titled “Back in Black Bloc.” These twenty-three minutes of chaotic intensity, confidently mixing in some downtempo and more death metal-esque vocals, with your more traditional grind and shrieks is the kind of thing I needed in 2020.
Be Well – The Weight and the Cost
Today in PMA, youth-crew influenced hardcore by dudes who’ve been around forever, we have the debut LP by Be Well. The previous bands list is impressive, including the likes Bane, Converge, Darkest Hour, Battery, and Fairweather, and vocalist Brian McTernan has a long list of producer credits as well. They mix hardcore with the emotional heft and creative flourishes that came out of Dischord’s Revolution Summer for one of the hardest-hitting lyrical releases of a hard-hitting year.
Where the hell did January go? Somehow it’s the end of the month already, and what an eventful month it was. Anyways, we don’t have a lot this month, but we do highlight two highly anticipated 2021 releases. Neither is really traditional metal in any genre that we’re used to, but both deliver on high levels of awesomeness. And then Phil saves us by covering some rad death/thrash. You know, the guy who listens to the least metal out of us saves our credibility.
Portrayal of Guilt – We Are Always Alone (2021, Closed Casket Activities)
If you’re a metalhead that only knows screamo as the word normies use to describe any music that has harsh vocals in it, you wouldn’t know that the genre contains a treasure trove of beautiful, throat-shredding, blasting, creative extremity. Portrayal of Guilt are not only easily the best band riding the recent underground wave of black metal influenced screamo (a.k.a. blackened screamo), they are one of the most creative and fresh sounding bands playing extreme music right now. I really love this band.
While their entire, short discography is worth hearing, We Are Always Alone is Portrayal of Guilt’s best, tightest, and most refined album yet. The sound here manages to capture what I feel is the most essential component of black metal, the evil! It may be hard to believe about a screamo band, but they are truly competing with the most cavernous, abyssal albums in black metal. The darkness evoked by Portrayal of Guilt’s sound has to be heard to be understood. They conjure this atmosphere alongside ultra-tight headbanging, blastbeating songcraft just dripping with blackened, masterful riffs and transitions pulled from all corners of the extreme metal universe – blackened hardcore, blackened grindcore, blackened death metal, blackened sludge – it is truly all the burnt-to-a-crisp goodness you could ask for.
The most screamo-sounding elements in play here are the vocals, delivered with a grounded, melancholic angst whether they’re bringing the black metal raspgrowl, hardcore shouting, or the occasionally grief-filled sing-yelling, there’s quite a variety from guitarist-vocalist Matt King. However, each instrument, especially drums, brings a memorable intensity to these songs. It’s all so tight and consistent while feeling so fresh in its blends and influences. It's familiar feeling, yet such a fresh flavor. Whether you’re into punk, screamo, or extreme metal, give this one a go if you have a spare 28 minutes of ear time. You won't regret it! – Mike Tri
We have one more guest list for the best of 2020, this one from James Bauman of Racebannon, Wenches and Torturess. Take a listen over at the Master Kontrol Audio bandcamp. In case you missed it, Evil Empire came out on top in Change the Rotation's album of the year bracket for 2020. Check out James' picks below:
I know this is a bit late, as we are entering February of 2021, however, good things come to those that wait, right? Well, while last year was mainly full of shit, garbage, vomit and death (i.e., COVID, Trump, BLM, etc.), there were surprisingly a load of decent records released during this flaming ball of excrement called 2020 that are worth checking out. I kept a running tally of releases that impressed me and thought I would just narrow them down at the end of the year for my ultimate top ten list. Yet, that proved to be too difficult so instead I chose to just offer my list of the 35 releases I encourage all of you to check out that won’t disappoint, as long as you like things that don’t suck. So, in no particular order, here are my effin’ favorites of the worst effin’ year ever, that aren’t Run the Jewels or Fiona Apple:
1. Psychic Graveyard – A Bluebird Vacation (Fat Beats Records): Members from two of my favorites, Arab on Radar and The Chinese Stars, make this fun weirdo shit that continues to change my creative life with every friggin’ listen. I can’t get enough.
2. IDLES – Mono (Partisan Records): I looked forward to this release more than most everything else on this list and it didn’t disappoint. If you’re not familiar, don’t worry, it’s never too late. Go now. Run.
3. Jehnny Beth – To Love Is To Live (20L07 Music): First solo album from Savages’ frontwoman is waaay on point. So good. Saw her perform with Savages once and it was, without a doubt, one of the best live performances I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Yes, that good.
4. Skeleton – s/t (20 Buck Spin): Maybe my favorite release on this list. It’s too good to skip. Don’t sleep. Blackened metal punk.
5. Ils – Curse (Pogo Records): Members from one of my all-time faves, Black Elk, from Portland, Oregon. Fuckin’ sick record. Still super stoked on this release. I can’t get enough.
6. Rebel Wizard – Magickal Mystical Indifference (Prosthetic Records): One bad ass dude effin’ shreddin.’ Highly recommended.
7. Gulch – Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress (Closed Casket Activities): This rips HARD. Just do it. Now. Seriously. Holy shit. Brutal.
8. HJELVIK – Welcome To Hel (Nuclear Blast): Dude leaves kick-ass Norweigan heavy metal band Kverlertak and starts an even more kick-ass blackened Viking heavy metal solo-band. Fuck yes.
9. Drouth – Excerpts From a Dread Liturgy (Translation Loss): Black metal from Portland, Oregon. Super heavy and epic. Realllllllllllyyyyyyy fuckin’ rad. I promise.
10. Black Rainbows - Cosmic Ritual Supertrip (Heavy Psych Sounds): Heavy Psych Sounds has become one of my favorite labels recently. Not only do they have some of the sickest merch designs I’ve ever seen, but they put out bands like this doing the Black Sabbath thing and rulin’ at it. This record is really catchy and fun.
Welcome to Change the Rotation's 8th annual albums of the year bracket. We announced the 32 album field a few weeks ago. Now it's time to find out how the results shook out and which album outlasted the competition to claim the number one spot. First, some bracketology: four of us (Dave Anians, Danny Collins, Steve O and myself) each submit a list of our favorite full-length albums of the year. Any record appearing on at least two of our lists automatically makes it onto the bracket. The remaining spots are divided evenly between the four of us. Once we have our field of 32, the albums are drawn randomly into their positions on the bracket. All four of us vote on each matchup until we have a champion. Four voters means there are bound to be some ties. We each assign a point value to each album before the voting begins (32 points to our favorite album, 1 point to least favorite). In the case of a tie, we add the four point values for each album to determine the winner. Below, see how it all came out, stream all 32 albums through the links toward the bottom of the post, and finally, a video of this year's virtual voting if you want to see how each individual matchup went down.
Bacchae's Pleasure Vision took region one in the band's first appearance on the bracket. This was a relatively early exit for PEARS - their first two albums were the overall runner-up in 2014 and 2016. Local post punks Ganser made their first bracket appearance.
We made it. We fucking made it. It was the year that felt like it would never end and now at last we close the curtain on 2020. But “2020” is metaphorical for a lot of the shit we dealt with this year. Whether that is a pandemic that wreaks havoc while we have to deal with the denial of science and the lack of universal healthcare, a policing structure that is racist and eager to react violently, Black, Indigenous, and Latinx folks still face a system stacked against them, workers still get exploited while companies like Amazon make billions as we all struggle to make ends meet, and on and on and on. That stuff doesn’t end just because the year does. Here’s some of the records we turned to while trying to pave a way forward.
Extreme metal bands are always trying to find new and creative ways to make their logo completely unreadable. Uhhh, I’ve already digressed. What I meant to say was: Cryptae are a fresh, hot, two-piece experimental death metal outfit from the Netherlands. On Nightmare Traversal, the band has created an album of tremendous old-school death metal and death doom. Punchy sets of deceptively simple, yet instantly infectious masterclass riffs inhabit these songs. Spacious, groovy, head-banging mid-tempo caveman chugs, long sustains of ringing low end, and onslaughts of equally caveman blast-beat-backed distorted guitar noise are provided by guitarist/vocalist Kees Peerdeman. Said blast-beats are blasted by drummer/vocalist René Aquarius with veteran quality precision along with a myriad of organic, creative, and varied playing that dances into, out of, and around the variety brought by his guitar counterpart in a way that feels like only a two-piece could execute. Wonderfully guttural death growls, fully indistinguishable from each other and fully un-interoperable as any actual words without a lyric sheet, are presumably delivered by each member.
So, I know what you’re thinking at this point, why do I call the band “experimental”? If you only heard one or two of the songs on Nightmare Traversal, you might fight with me on that label, but it’s the traversal of the full nightmare that brings the experimental label. There are times when this album really feels like it’s two psychedelic, noise rock heroes (like say Hella or Lightning Bolt) playing OSDM. That comes out not just in songwriting style but in the riffs and guitar tones as well. As the album progresses, the strangeness stacks on itself little by little, gets weirder and weirder, until it culminates in stretches of sound that threaten to genre-hop in the last couple tracks (Especially the clean guitar moment in “Cronos”, phew!). But for all the blink-and-you-miss-them experiments happening, the real wonder here is it never becomes anything other than incredible, groovy, cavernous OSDM. Like a good horror movie, the monster is never shown outright to you. It’s incredibly consistent in its startling, playful darkness, making the novel moments all the more “What the hell did I just listen to?” and “Hell yeah I gotta listen to that again.” And then of course, you do listen again and again because the album is a tight thirty minute wild ride of an experience that is worth hearing at least a few dozen times. – Mike Tri
The year is just about finished and we have one more guest list, from Danny Cheap Date. You may recognize him from The Cheap Dates, Nude Model and of course Don't Panic Records & Distro. He's also part of Change the Rotation's bracket committee, which decides our top 32 albums of the year. Look for the results from our album of the year bracket next week. Until then, happy new year and here are Danny's top singles of the year.
Danny Cheap Date’s Top Standalone Singles of 2020
Every year at Change the Rotation, we compile our album of the year lists and every year I struggle to pull together a list of over 10 new albums. This year’s different though. I’ve literally had nothing better to do than to sit around and listen to new music which resulted in me putting together a 100-some track best of 2020 playlist. Typically I appreciate the full-length album as a means of expressing one’s art but more and more musicians are putting out standalone singles. I think it’s particularly important to pay attention to these singles this year as so many musicians have postponed their full releases. Now let’s be real, when I look back at 2020, I’m gonna think about the time we blasted WAP outside of the Chicago FOP and I’m gonna think about all the times I danced to WAP in friends’ kitchens and living rooms. It’s the best and most memorable song of 2020 BUT let’s talk about some songs you may have missed!
Ric Wilson – Fight Like Ida B & Marsha P
Ric Wilson has been busy as hell in 2020. The Chicago rapper put out four singles and an EP since the start of the year. Fight Like Ida B & Marsha P is the track that stands out the most to me. With lines like “defund the police, abolish the prisons or don't speak a word to me / stop ICE and let 'em all free / let the kids be, end intersex surgeries,” this song could easily be the anthem for not only this summer’s uprising but for the ongoing struggles we’re going to continue fighting against in 2021. The song has a bouncy beat, catchy chorus and a Tom Waits-esque guitar solo. It also uses Which Side Are You On as a hook. It’s a protest song made for dancing in the streets. This is exactly what we needed this year.
The year end guest lists keep rollin' on in! Nick Cvijovic of Butchered delivers his favorite albums, EPs and more of 2020. Butchered released the catchy, riffy Wax Pathetic last month and it is one of this site's favorite albums of the year. Look for more guest lists this week and our annual album of the year bracket results next week. Without further ado, I'll let Nick take it away:
Nick Cvijovic's Top Albums of 2020
I love year end lists so much. Show me your favorite albums, songs, recipes, movies and I'll read every word you wrote. Hearing about or seeing what other people are listening to is awesome since I only listened to Power Trip and Run the Jewels all year.
I don't need to restate the fact that this year was a bummer and pandemics are awful and the whole state of the world is in disarray, etc etc. That's for real writers and publications and I am just a guy who wants to tell you about the music I listened to and the things I watched while roaming through alleyways drinking whiskey during quarantine/lockdown/whatever you'd like to call it. So, with that being said, I compiled , through rigorous listening and drinking, a PERFECT list of the best LPs, EPs, and other nonsense for you to roll your eyes at. How many guitar-forward rock bands are on this list? Too many. Are both Taylor Swift albums on here? You fucking bet.
*disclaimer: there were like 45 albums and eps on my original list but I HAD to omit stuff. Ask me about those later*
Top Albums (LPs) of 2020 in Reverse Order:
Ultra Mono - IDLES
UK's IDLES yell, talk, and scream about BREXIT, toxic masculinity, racism, nationalism, and all other -isms through a rainbow of emotionally charged songs. Some are funny (Model Village), some are dark (War), but always danceable. Neighbors Anger Index puts this at a 8.
Favorite Song: "Mr. Motivator"
Alfredo - Freddie Gibbs + The Alchemist
This was one of my go-to albums to listen to during the sweet point of 2020 when I kept breaking spokes on my bike and walked to very far away neighborhoods in Chicago. Alfredo features laid back beats with phenomenal word play from Gibbs and a handful of featured artists like Benny the Butcher, Rick Ross, Tyler, the Creator, and Conway the Machine; many lyrics finding their way onto handmade signs of protesters throughout the world this summer.
Favorite song: "Frank Lucas"
Fetch the Bolt Cutters - Fiona Apple
This record was number one on like 90% of the lists that I read this year and with good reason. Apple recorded this record over the course of four or five years all at her home, using these songs to better herself at being a songwriter and recording artist. It's an incredible display of bouncy (? sure why not), jazzy (I'm using that as a term to describe odd time and chord changes because I only play in 4/4), and catchy songs that even the most stubborn of music dorks will love. At least they better.
Favorite Song: "Shameika"
folklore/evermore - Taylor Swift
If you know me, then you know I love Taylor Swift a lot. Obviously the pop jams and country bangers are where her real talent lies, but during a time where a lot of us spent alone and idle, folklore really nailed the mood. And even better, she brings back the old Taylor country vibes on certain songs; albeit in a more stripped down fashion. evermore keeps the theme going too. Dropping two albums out of almost nowhere without any singles to hype up the releases was also cool as hell; even for someone of her notoriety.
Favorite Song(s): "the last great american dynasty"/"willow"
Melee - Dogleg
My drummer showed me this band and from first listen I fell in love with it. Even the coldest of hearts need a good sing along every once in a while and this album is chock full of songs to satisfy that need.. Dogleg embrace Spraynard and PUP style punk, but do it in a way that doesn't sound played out. It's one of the few things I enjoy from Michigan.
Favorite Songs: "Bueno" and "Fox"
Happy Monday! We have another guest end of the year list to share today. This one comes from local punk trio The Cell Phones. Justin (drums), Lindsey (vocals) and Ryan (bass) all contributed their favorites in music, food and hobby-ing from the past year. If you haven't yet, go listen to their new album Battery Lower, out on our brother label Don't Panic Records & Distro. If you have listened to it, go listen to it again! At the very least, you'll have a new alarm clock jam. There are plenty of regular jams on there too. So many that it made the cut for our top 32 albums of the year. See you on the bracket! More guest lists to come this week, followed by our annual album of the year bracket results next week. Read the Cell Phones' list below.
THE CELL PHONES 2020 HIT LIST
Favorite Artist/Album of 2020:
Ryan - Anaal Nathrakh: Endarkenment *The Age of Starlight Ends
Justin - Run the Jewels: 4 *ohh la la
Lindsey - Poppy: I Disagree *Concrete
*favorite song
Favorite Artist/Album discovered in 2020:
Ryan - Vitalic: OK Cowboy *My Friend Dario
Justin - Víkingur Ólafsson: Johann Sebastian Bach *Organ Sonata No. 4, BWV 528: II. Andante [Adagio] (Transcr. Stradal)
Lindsey - Wilma Archer (props to Spotify’s Discover Weekly list): A Western Circular *Cheater (feat. Sudan Archives)
*favorite song
Favorite Food/Restaurant of 2020:
Ryan - Roasted Chicken Jibarito from Papa’s Cache Sabroso: drool emoji 10x
Justin - Taco El Jalisciense (cecina tacos)
Lindsey - Small Cheval’s chocolate milkshake (still solid and cold, even if you got it to go!!)
Favorite Hobby/Pastime discovered (thanks Covid) in 2020:
Ryan - Grilling: I cooked a ton this year but the charcoal grill was my #1 heat source, plus it kept me outside during quarantine.
Justin - Cooking
Lindsey - Cross stitch, taken up mostly to pass the time while I had to breast pump, but I don’t think I’ll ever stop.
Guest Lists: The Best of 2020
Connor McNerney of Cabin Corner
Phil Collins - December 27, 2020
Believe it or not, the end is nigh for 2020. We're looking back on the many great albums and releases that came out during this crazy year. We announced Change the Rotation's top 32 albums of the year, which will compete in our annual album of the year bracket. Expect to learn who has survived this rigorous contest to become our album of the year in early January. First, we have some guest best of 2020 lists to share. Starting with Connor McNerney of Cabin Corner, a new music blog. Cabin Corner has featured the best of 2020 along with some choice Christmas albums lately. Connor also does guitar and vocals for Cunj, who released Smooth Grind earlier this year. Check out Connor's list below.
Top 20 of 2020 (in order of release date):
• Poppy - I Disagree - 1/11 Sumerian Records
• Sallow Moth - The Larval Hope - 1/15 Dead Red Queen Records
• Kvelertak - Splid - 2/15 Rise Records
• New Primals - Horse Girl Energy - 3/20 Learning Curve Records
• NNAMDÏ - BRAT - 4/3 Sooner Records
• Southern Belle - Wild Wheat - 5/4 Brown Bear Records
• Jeff Rosenstock - NO DREAM - 5/20 Polyvinyl Record Co.
• Backxwash - God Has Nothing to Do with This Leave Him Out of It - 5/28 Grimalkin Records
• Hole Dweller - Flies the Coop II - 8/13 Dungeons Deep Records
• Sweeping Promises - Hunger for a Way Out - 8/14 Feel It Records
• Napalm Death - Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism - 9/18 Century Media
• Sunken - Livslede - 9/18 Vendetta Records
• Jackie Venson - Vintage Machine 10/1 (self-release)
• Underdog Upperhand - Confrontational - 10/2 Brown Bear Records
• Whethan - Fantasy - 10/16 Big Beat Records
• clipping. - Visions of Bodies Being Burned - 10/23 Sub Pop Records
• Butchered - Wax Pathetic - 11/20 (self-release)
• Joan of Arc - Tim Melina Theo Bobby - 12/4 Joyful Noise Recordings
Change the Rotation's Albums of the Year Bracket Field 2020
Phil Collins - December 8, 2020
It's the end of a year unlike any other. Good riddance, am I right? Nevertheless, a lot of great music came out this year and we would be remiss not to celebrate these albums. As is our annual tradition, we take our collective top 32 albums and pit them against each other in a March Madness style bracket, which determines our album of the year. Danny Collins, Steve O, Dave Anians and I each submit our own lists of our favorite albums of the year. Any album on at least two lists automatically makes the bracket. However many spots remain are divided up between the four of us to bring the total to 32. The 32 albums are randomly drawn into their positions on the bracket. We then vote matchup by matchup, round by round until one album comes out on top. Ties ... we'll get to that when we get to the results. Today, we announce the field of 32, our top albums of the year.
Before we get to the voting (results will probably be posted in early January), look out for some guest best of the year lists and my "best EPs and other releases" list - only full-lengths are eligible for the bracket. Below, click through and listen to each of these albums!
It's been a weird year, to say the least, for bands and fans alike. I know I'm itching to get back to shows. And I recognize that's the least of our problems these days. Yet, in the inimitable words of Jeff Goldblum's Ian Malcolm, "life, uh, finds a way." And so local pop punks Nora Marks have a batch of new songs coming our way, starting with "Friction (But You Still Did)" on Friday. It's the first in a series of self-produced singles called the Soundbox Sessions. I caught up with the band about the new songs and how the year has gone for them.
Phil Collins: How has 2020 treated you?
Matt Galante (Bass/Vocals): I believe most of us have experienced every possible emotion during this fucked up roller coaster to the present. It really started out hot hot hot, and then obviously everything came to a grinding halt. As a band, we're grateful for the extra time we've been given under the circumstance, but holy shit we miss live music. Even though this year has been a "shit show" in every sense of the term, it's been nice to slow down and recalibrate with a lot of different aspects of life. Spending more time outside biking, grilling, and just enjoying home hobbies again has been mentally rewarding. Also been eating mushrooms pretty regularly, so you take the good with the bad, I guess?
PC: How did you go about recording at this time?
Matthew Garrity (Drums/Vocals): This was (and continues to be) our first time self-recording. I don't really have a fancy vocabulary for what we're doing. I went to school for a year for Audio Production & Design, and I'm using my limited knowledge from there and just tinkering around in the past, and learning as we go. What I will say is that we are trying and really doing a good job of capturing the 'fuck yeah' essence we get when we play a show. Self-recording has been great because it's almost like playing another instrument or having a fifth band member for us. We really get picky and have fun with it. It's kinda the collective chord for all of us to strum at once, if that makes any sense.
What a weird fucking month. The stress of election night turned into the stress of election week and 45 is still all-caps tweeting nonsense (nonsense almost sounds too kind). Covid numbers are skyrocketing again, while everyone is throwing a fit about losing their Thanksgiving. And we’re gonna get that onslaught of capitalism encouraging everyone to buy, buy, buy, cause it’s still Black Friday. Fuck all that. Here’s the records we’re using to escape from reality this month.
Fuck the Facts – Pleine Noirceur (2020, Noise Salvation)
Canadian grindcore veterans Fuck the Facts are back after five years off the clock dishing out an at once beautiful, groovy, melodic, and brutal slab of eclectic deathgrind. It has been years and years since I listened to these folks, who I once discovered on MySpace of all places so long ago. There’s always been something special to their sound, something that’s always been held reverently by grindcore fans keeping track of all the best, but there’s really not a lot I could ever remember from their past works. They’re great when I throw them on, but I can’t really recall them after, you know?
Not so here. On Pleine Noirceur, Fuck the Facts sound like the important band they are. The genre mesh blur on display here is a forward-thinking push for heady grind. Post-metal, melodic death metal, death metal, beatdown hardcore, power violence, and really even emoviolence (big vibes like contemporary blackened emoviolence-grindcore blenders Portrayal of Guilt) create atmosphere and groove and emotional weight in the grind like you wouldn’t believe. It pushes beyond Nasum’s (that has got to be an influence for them) Entombed meets In Flames melogrind. It’s as experimental and genre hopping as late Napalm Death. It’s as emotionally crushing, riff onslaught-bringing, and chameleon-like as grind contemporaries Cloud Rat. For as progressive as it is, it feels like nothing is out of place. It just has that fantastic songwriting that only a 20 year band could bring and bestial, tight, unmatched performances—Mel Mongeon is a legendary vocalist and the rhythm section is just fantastic all the time—they’re what carry this album to greatness.
My personal favorite moment, and it may be my metal song moment of the year, is the full stop silence in the hardcore banger “Everything I Love Is Ending” that punctuates an absurdly huge emotional statement about the instability of life. Smack dab in the middle of a maelstrom of ideas and riffs, a moment of silence is very appropriate for this year. I keep getting wracked with goosebumps every time that silence hits. Fuck the Facts reminds us that extreme music can be stunning, emotional, and breathtakingly beautiful. – Mike Tri
I’ve been putting this off for like half the year now, vacillating between a lack of motivation and a there’s too much other important stuff going on to talk about records sort of mood. But I’d be remiss if I let the year slip by without telling you how fantastic the new Lawrence Arms record is. Skeleton Coast came out in the middle of the summer, which feels like eons ago the way this year has gone, packing a decade’s worth of exhaustion into a (so far) nine months. Alas, there’s a comfortable escapism here, knowing that, for at least a half hour, you can delve into the known quantity of a consistent Lawrence Arms release.
So, where do we start here? If you know me, or if you’ve read any of my reviews on here of Lawrence Arms, or Lawrence Arms-adjacent, records you know how much I love Brendan Kelly’s work. The bassist/vocalist melds high-brow influences with the lowest of low-brow humor, and his lyrics still come out impactful and impressive, all delivered through his gravelly rasp. But, honestly, I think my favorites here, for the first time ever, are guitarist/vocalist Chris McCaughan’s. He’s the more melodic voice of the two, and on his songs he absolutely hit it out of the park.
We’re celebrating Halloween here at Change the Rotation (or at least the best we can), while preparing for a virtual Hallowmas. Here’s some of the horror-themed records we are jamming this month. Or records about the end of the world. So, ya know, same thing.
Anaal Nathrakh – Endarkenment (2020, Metal Blade Records)
There were a couple records I thought about using this space to talk about, and while we might get to them eventually, I have to go with the phenomenal new Anaal Nathrakh record. From the release of leadoff single of the Orwellian “Endarkenment” through a hilariously acerbic video (that I’m still “spinning” on repeat), this is the record I needed in 2020. Clearly a record influenced by the times, with Endarkenment being a spin off the Enlightenment, Anaal Nathrakh are scathing, at least in the lyrics you can understand or that they’ve released (historically they don’t publish lyrics). And we’ve gotta talk about how those lyrics are delivered, because Dave Hunt continues to show why he’s one of the most versatile vocalists around. From the gurgling, chaotic depravity of “Beyond Words” to King Diamond-esque falsettos in “Libidinous (A Pig with Cocks in Its Eyes)” to the chorus of “Create Art, Though the World May Perish,” which straight up reminds me of Bruce Dickinson, Hunt’s range is incredible. And Mick Kenney, who does all the instrumentals, provides one hell of a backdrop through which Hunt can shine. “Feeding the Death Machine” is an apocalyptic, thrashy, melo-death. The aforementioned “Create Art, Though the World May Perish” contains the most NWOBH-vibe ever vomited forth from the chaotic black-grind Kenney usually creates. Tracks like “Beyond Words” and “Punish Them” are just pure auditory chaos. “Endarkenment” and “The Age of Starlight Ends” are surprisingly comprehensible epics with grandiose choruses. Anaal Nathrakh have been on a roll for a while and Endarkenment might just be their highest point yet, certainly matching 2016’s The Whole of the Law (which we deemed the black metal record of the year). Seriously, check this out. And if you’re unfamiliar with Anaal Nathrakh and not sure what you’re about to get yourself into, well, buckle up, hold on tight, and enjoy the ride. – Steve O
Depending who you ask, there are six or seven (or some finite number) types of conflict in literature. The idea being that there are some truths that are so universal that any story would boil down to one of these categories. Put Grey Matter’s Climbing Out firmly in the Person Versus Society pile. Put 2020 in the Person Versus Society pile.
From increased attention on structural racism to this country’s woeful response to the pandemic, it feels like each citizen is facing their own personal Me Versus Society horror show.
Climbing Out listens like a call to action directed specifically at you. The opening sound clip from Network sets the tone: “I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell: ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take this anymore!’” The first line of “Not My Friend” immediately builds on this sentiment. “Call out your racist friends/It's not just a joke when they actually believe it.”
So years ago, I tried out this column I called Monthly Metal Mixtape. The idea was that I’d give a quick glimpse at a handful of metal records that I’d been listening to and thought you should check out as well. It didn’t last very long because… I’m lazy who knows, I got busy? But it’s time to try this again! With a twist this time. I’ve asked some friends to chip in, so it’s really a mixtape this time. So huge thanks to you all for contributing, and if you, dear reader, want to participate as well, just get in touch.
Enjoy!
Def.Master – Destroyer Has Godmind (1994, Destroy Method)
[Kicks down the front door] Who were Def.Master you ask? Why, only a Japanese industrial metal band that beat Fear Factory to the punch, have gnarly songs and a grimy attitude. You can find their first album Destroyer Has Godmind on Youtube below. [Grabs your six-pack from the fridge and leaves] – Richard
Devil Master – Satan Spits on Children of Light (2019, Relapse Records)
Alright, hear me out, I know Devil Master is a super cheesy name for a band… especially in the twenty first century… but this shit is good. Devil Master put out their first demo, Manifestations, in 2018. It was an exciting and refreshing take on punk and metal. The band combined elements of black metal, d-beat and crust with surf rock inspired guitar riffs. It was like if East Bay Ray played with Darkthrone during their crust punk years. It was raw and punk as fuck. The band was picked up by Relapse Records on the strength of the demo and they quickly delivered with their excellently titled 2019 full length, Satan Spits on Children of Light. On this album, Devil Master continues their punk/metal crossover with cleaner recordings that bring out their metal side a bit more. The riffs are a little less surfy but the guitars are SOAKED in reverb and they might even give a little nod to Dick Dale’s “Miserlou” on “Black Flame Candle.” The album is dark and ominous but it’s really fun to listen to and great to mosh around to. For a band named Devil Master, they don’t seem to take themselves too seriously (that’s the punk influence) but they’re also no joke. I’ve been listening to this band a lot ever since they put out their demo. Looking forward to seeing what they come up with next! – Danny Collins
Okay, so I guess I’m doing this. I’m gonna tell you why you should listen to a record that has a song on it called “Bring Back the Plague.” During a pandemic. Maybe not the best idea? But still smarter than Karen wanting a haircut or demanding Baskin Robbins open. First off, Cattle Decapitation clearly has their tongue planted firmly in cheek; just watch the video for the aforementioned song. Karen does not. Secondly, Cattle Decapitation has a long history of pointing out the fallacies of a modern human culture built off destroying our environment and exploiting our ecosystems, including other living animals. Unsurprisingly, Karen does not. And that haircut is the least of your worries.
So why should you sink the hour into experiencing the extremes brought forth on Cattle Decapitation’s eighth full length Death Atlas (man, we’re leaning into that apocalypse hard, aren’t we)? Well for one, Cattle Decapitation has been on an insane run lately. I raved about The Anthropocene Extinction on here five years ago, and 2012’s Monolith of Inhumanity is equally awesome. So, they’ve got their sound nailed down and the refinements are impressive. But as with both of those records, the introspective (though blunt) nature of the lyrics really hits home, especially as the planet is dealing with a catastrophe that they fictionalize in their lyrics. And while I’m sure Travis Ryan and crew would much rather us have taken heed through the imagery portrayed alongside a grind-refined death metal (just as they would when all the impacts of climate change really start hitting us), there are lessons to be gleaned from this auditory blunt force trauma and the absolute shitshow humanity finds itself in right now.
After a foreboding electronic intro, we are welcomed to Death Atlas with a fantastic, screeching roar courtesy of Ryan’s phenomenal range. He’s an incredible vocalist, and once again shows off a range from the deepest, harshest of growls and grunts up to this creepy, raspy, totally one-of-a-kind version of singing and everything in between. Seriously, I cannot find a good comparable for this in the death metal pantheon (but please drop recommendations if you do). And if you thought “Bring Back the Plague” was blunt, well opener “The Geocide” let’s fly like a line brawl in the movie Slapshot. I could drop any line from the song in here, but let’s go with this one: “Life exists to infuriate, berate, and subjugate / The hapless mortals shit-birthed on a human-altered planet Earth.” Yeah, we’re talking about you, Karen. And in-between, please note the sweet soloing by longtime member Josh Elmore. It’s not all doom and gloom.
In Rotation: 2Minute Minor - Lockdown & Extended Lockdown EPs
Phil Collins - April 28, 2020
Chicago old school hardcore band 2Minute Minor recently released two EPs - Lockdown and Extended Lockdown. Get the idea? Money raised from these two EPs go to local favorite dive bar and show space, Liars Club. They're both available for free on Bandcamp, but donate to support a fun venue if you can. Many area venues have organized fundraisers for their employees. See a (not exhaustive) list of those fundraising pages here.
Lockdown EP begins with a disclaimer that this was recorded in the bathroom. And it doesn't sound especially polished, but that's part of the point of this exercise. We're all at home doing what we can. These are four solid new songs from a band practicing in a corner of hardcore you don't hear too much these days. They're taking thoughtful lyrics on serious subject matter and delivering them with these goofy vocal hooks and interspersed sound clips. It sticks out and I'm into it.
That One Melody From Aladdin (1992) is 92 Years Old
Phil Collins - April 22, 2020
Before you read any further, note that this post has nothing to do with the topics usually discussed on this site - punk, Chicago punk bands, etc. Maybe quarantine has gotten the best of me but I want to take a little time to talk about something that has been eating at me for the past few months. That one melody from Aladdin (1992) is 92 years old.
I was a kid in 1992. Old enough to have spotty memories of the first Bulls 3-peat (start watching The Last Dance if you aren't already), but let's just say my memories of the second 3-peat are much clearer. While Chicago basketball was experiencing a one-of-a-kind run, Disney was on a tear of its own. The hand-drawn animated features came one after the other, each as big as the last. Between 1989 and 1996, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame each grossed more than $100 million domestically. Some of them grossed well north of that figure. Aladdin fell smack in the middle of that run, pulling in about $217 million stateside.
Aladdin opens with the grand "Arabian Nights", an introduction to the vast desert and its hidden treasures. Shortly following this, we are introduced to the street markets of Agrabah. The eponymous hero and his simian companion attempt to trick their way to free food through the jaunty number "One Jump Ahead". Can you think of a better word to describe 1920s music than jaunty?
I wrote about Postage the other day and alluded to my time living in Albany. It also surprised me because it made me realize that I haven’t written about After the Fall on here before. Which is amazing, because I started this whole writing shindig when I was living out there and I can’t believe that I didn’t document this rad band that I was seeing all the time and make everyone listen to them. I discovered After the Fall with 2010’s Eradication. It’s basically the kind of melodic hardcore punk mix that I rave about all the time. Fast, heavy songs, with catchy riffs, some strong licks, memorable sing-alongs, thought-provoking lyrics that flew by in twenty-five minutes. It’s great. Check out “Stagnation” for just one example. But today I’m gonna talk about all twenty-three minutes of 2013’s follow-up Unkind. I was living in Albany between 2012 and 2014, which meant I got to be around when this record was coming together and got to see most (all?) of these songs live. Unkind is an awesome record and got even heavier/faster than its predecessor.
From the opening notes, it's clear Unkind is gonna be intense. But opener “Unkind” is one of the poppier songs here, discounting the opening shout, and the fact it’s about a relationship falling apart. But despite the anger, that pretty much feels present throughout the record, there’s a light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel feel, with lines like “Don’t blame yourself for what’s been done / just move forward / and keep pushing on.” And then there’s “Tilburg,” which is … oh shit. It’s about a dead pet. Forget everything I said about lights at the end of the tunnels and things looking up and all that. Everything sucks, everything’s awful. “Tilburg” is actually a good example of the melding of the pop punk influences with all the hardcore elements that are present throughout. It’s kinda poppy, but it’s kinda bludgeoning too, with a sweet little solo to close the song out. There’s a few melodic songs here, like “Back and Forth,” “Cathedral” and “Writer’s Block”, which is an upbeat little ditty about losing motivation.
So I’m working at a library again and there’s this guy who’s put over 200 CDs on hold. At the same time. That’s led to some discussion about how he’s going to listen to them all. Someone floated the idea he’s a DJ; I like to think trucker. Regardless, there’s widespread doubt he’d listen to them all. Checkouts for three weeks, then you get three renewals – so in theory, twelve weeks to listen to 200 records. And all these discussions got me thinking. I could listen to 200 records in twelve weeks. Right?
Well I decided to keep track. What follows will be every record that I’ve listened to in full over the next twelve weeks, starting August 5th. I’m not gonna include repeats, even though I’ll definitely give a good chunk of these more than one spin; the idea is to see how many different records I listen to, not to count how many times I listen to, say, Today’s Empires, Tomorrow’s Ashes, in three months.
I’ll break it up into three week segments: 1) initial checkout (8/5-8/26), 2) first renewal (8/27-9/16), 3) second renewal (9/17-10/7), and 4) final renewal (10/8-10/28). That’ll take me up to October 28th. I’ll have a few short sentences about the record and a link to check it out. And so, without further ado, let the great experiment begin!
Post-script: The great experiment is fucking exhausting! Yeah, it was fun to keep track of everything I listened to for a while. It’s neat to notice any patterns that emerge. But it is now March 22nd, almost five months after the counting ended, and about a month after the last segment was posted. You can tell the motivation for this waned. Alas, enjoy the stretch run.
181) Primordial - Spirit The Earth Aflame (2000, Hammerheart Records)
182) Primordial - Storm Before Calm (2002, Hammerheart Records)
183) Primordial - The Gathering Wilderness (2005, Metal Blade Records)
184) Primordial - To The Nameless Dead (2007, Metal Blade Records)
185) Primordial - Redemption At The Puritan's Hand (2011, Metal Blade Records)
186) Primordial - Where Greater Men Have Fallen (2014, Metal Blade Records)
187) Primordial - Exile Amongst The Ruins (2018, Metal Blade Records)
My favorite part of living in Albany was getting to see After the Fall all the time. Playing a heavier take on punk, with some definite hardcore leanings (especially on 2013’s Unkind), they were right up my alley musically, and played very frequently, often organizing/opening shows for the larger bands that came through town (i.e. A Wilhelm Scream, Iron Chic, Lemuria). I’m actually quite amazed I haven’t written a Random Record for them yet. Maybe that’ll happen during this quarantine, let’s see how nostalgic I get.
Anyways, we’re gonna fly through one of the spin-off bands, Postage, which is 3/4 of After the Fall. So yeah, Postage, like the ALL song, is clearly inspired by ALL/Descendents. It’s fast, it’s poppy, it’s catchy, it’s a good time. Vocalist/guitarist Mike Moak drives the (mail) van here; for example on “Return to Sender” (see I’m not the only one making puns). The four tracks on their first EP are all in this same vein, full of a driving energy, solid riffs, and catchy lines you’ll find yourself singing along with. The highlight here is undoubtedly “8085,” an ode to old school punk, including “Banned in D.C.” (Bad Brains), Rocket to Russia (Ramones), Milo Goes to College & I Don’t Wanna Grow Up, (Descendents), Earth A.D. (Misfits), My War & Damaged (Black Flag), amongst many more. It’s an awesome tip of the hat to their influences, a spiritual predecessor to After the Fall’s “1994.”
An Encounter with Jack Terricloth and The World/Inferno Friendship Society
Danny Collins - April 2, 2020
Mr. Jack Terricloth of The World/Inferno Friendship Society - Photo courtesy of Nick Nonesuch
One of the best things about following a band as magnetic as The World/Inferno Friendship Society is that whenever they have something eventful happening, such as a new album being released, a tour coming up, or their annual Hallowmas celebration approaching, they tend to stir up a good deal of attention. Tales of intrigue start to come out through major publications and blogs while other stories start to spread through word of mouth. Somehow, this outpour of information only makes the band more enigmatic and alluring as it divulges certain truths at times while adding to their mythos at others. Take their last tour for example, when word spread that the band’s singer, Jack Terricloth, was stabbed by their accordion player during a knife fight on electric scooters; a story too crazy to be true but just bizarre enough believe.
This is The World/Inferno Friendship Society, an anarchist music collective based out of Brooklyn, New York that blends a variety of musical genres such as klezmer, swing and soul with driving punk rock to create a sound and act that owes as much to vaudeville as it does The Damned. I’ve been following Inferno for the past decade… or however long it’s been since they opened for Against Me! in Chicago. After years of observation, I found myself personally sucked into their chaotic lives when they came to town for two nights this past August. My band, Nude Model, whose singer is an alumnus of Inferno’s former label, Gern Blandsten, by way of The Watchers, was opening for their show at The Beat Kitchen on Thursday, August 8th. They had a secret show planned for The Burlington the following night. I arranged an interview with Jack thanks to the help of Inferno violinist Jeffrey Young, who invited me to cover their two nights in Chicago after having had worked with Change the Rotation on [setting up and diligently transcribing] an interview with Jack back in 2016.
I was told to be at The Burlington by 6pm and like a true professional, I showed up at 6:30. The door was locked, the bar was closed. Their van was parked outside so I wandered through the back alley. I ran into a man named Pedro who told me Jack was at The Double, a local favorite down the street, and was expecting me. I walked in and was pleasantly greeted by Jack and Gina, the band’s bassist. “You must be Danny,” Jack said with a grin. Expecting to buy the first round, Gina ordered me a beer. I was caught off guard already.
The Suicide Machines - War Profiteering Is Killing Us All
Steve O - March 30, 2020
So, the other day Phil talked about how great the new Suicide Machines record, Revolution Spring is. It’s fantastic and you should go listen to if you haven’t already. But I wanna take a minute, or more accurately a half hour, to visit their previous output – 2005’s War Profiteering Is Killing Us All.
You remember 2005, right? Back when we had a horrible Republican president with an overactive imagination who decided to agitate and invade a foreign country. Oh, remember those days when we thought it couldn’t get worse than George W. Bush? Simpler times. This is also back when people bought CDs. Remember what those are? Well, back in 2005 I picked up the CD for War Profiteering Is Killing Us All, which stands up as my favorite Suicide Machines record. Yeah, that’s right, I prefer this one to Destruction By Definition, which is a close number two.
Anyways, you’re probably aware of the Suicide Machines because of “New Girl,” which was on the Tony Hawk Pro Skater soundtrack and is a ska song. If so, you’ll be in for a shock when you first put on War Profiteering… and hear the title track. “War Profiteering Is Killing Us All” is a blistering hardcore track, that feels closer to what frontman Jay Navarro would later do with Hellmouth than the ska-punk stylings of the Suicide Machines. (As an aside, he has stayed quite busy in the intervening years with rad bands like Hellmouth, Break Anchor, and J. Navarro & the Traitors.) Even the vibe in the video feels more hardcore than ska. And this is the point where I inevitably remind you how much I prefer loud and fast and heavy and it makes sense why I prefer this record; it is absolutely full of those songs. The title track, “Red Flag,” “17% 18 – 25,” “Rebellion is on the Clearance Rack (and I Think I Like it),” amongst others, all sound furious.
In Rotation: The Suicide Machines - Revolution Spring
Phil Collins - March 26, 2020
The Suicide Machines' first album in 15 years brings the combination of skate punk, hardcore and ska that fans have come to love. I first saw the Suicide Machines play at Riot Fest 2011. It was one of those all-day bangers at the Congress Theater (RIP). The bill featured Descendents, Leftover Crack, Strike Anywhere and about 12 bands in total playing back-to-back on that one stage. This was when I really started listening to Suicide Machines on a regular basis. Sure, I knew them from Tony Hawk, but seeing them live and being able to see them live many times during the last nine years has kept the band in heavy rotation for me. That being said, this is the first time I really remember Suicide Machines putting out a new record. 2005 was a different time in many ways.
This is 2020 and here we are at home for the forseeable future, trying to stay healthy. And what should pop up in my inbox but a brand new Suicide Machines record. Revolution Spring has been the soundtrack of my quarantine workouts, which have been frequent, because what else is there to do? "Flint Hostage Crisis" is the number one standout. It is a scathing takedown of the water crisis in Flint, Michigan (the band's home state) and it is a ska/hardcore ripper. The shouted "Third World America" in the chorus asks, how could this happen here? The growing divide between classes in this country continues to manifest itself. "Detroit is the New Miami" is another full throttle banger. Closer "Cheers to Ya" effectively brings in the horn section. "Bully in Blue" and "Black Tar Halo" are quick catchy jams that will be particularly fun to see live.
Those of you who are long time followers of the bracket will have noticed two appearances by Israel’s Not On Tour, a rad, laser-fast punk band with some definite hardcore leanings. You can blame both of those bracket entries on me. 2015’s Bad Habits immediately hit me and I snuck it on the bracket at the last moment. So, when last year’s Growing Pains came out, it was high on my list and didn’t disappoint. It was actually one of my favorite records from last year and ended up winning three rounds on the bracket.
But you know what wasn’t eligible for the bracket and equally awesome? Vocalist Sima Brami’s other project, powerviolence band MooM. That’s because those consist of a series of three EPS and a split, which have been deemed ineligible via Phil decree. And since we’re all sitting at home with nothing better to do, let’s take a trip through that collection.
First up is 2015’s First EP, which drops four tracks, varying in length from one minute four seconds to one minute twenty-four seconds. Yeah, let’s blast away. Leadoff “Cages” features some cool blast beats before dropping into a rad sludge groove to wrap up the track. “Ancient Scripts” brings some rad dueling vocals on the low and high end. Sima’s vocals have a much rougher edge to them than anything from Not On Tour, a higher pitched bark that contrasts great with the lower growls here and on “Fate.” Honestly, it kind of reminds me of what Nasum was doing with the vocal pairings. “Ancient Scripts” feels especially like a product of location – calling out the patriarchal structure of the Holy Land religions that wield such an overwhelming influence on the region.
This is a stressful time for everyone, but especially hourly workers who receive little to no pay while venues are shut down. Many local venues have set up support funds for their staff. If you can, help out those who are taking a big hit right now. This is not an exhaustive list, but here are links to many of the area fundraising pages.
Post hardcore band Petrol Girls, out of the UK and Austria, won Change the Rotation's 2019 album of the year bracket with Cut & Stitch. I recently caught up with vocalist Ren Aldridge via email, while the band was on tour in Europe. In the meantime, much of the band's planned US and Canada tour had to be canceled due to visa issues. The band will still appear at South by Southwest in Austin. If you're here in Chicago, Typesetter and Blood People will still play at Sleeping Village on March 23. More info on that show here. I asked Ren about her favorite albums last year, touring and her experience with the current political situation.
Phil Collins: Congrats on winning Change the Rotation’s 2019 album of the year bracket. Did you have any favorite albums of 2019?
Ren Aldridge: Thanks so much! It’s always such a massive honour to be considered as anyone’s album of the year – thank you!! My favorites from 2019 are:
Lankum - The Livelong Day (incredible folk band from Dublin - best harmonies)
Personal Best - What You At (self-described as tragic lesbian rock! we’re honoured to have front woman and lead shredder Katie Gatt joining us on bass for our U.S. and Canada dates!)
Lizzo - Cuz I Love You (I don’t normally listen to a lot of pop so I came late to the party on this one but now I seriously can’t stop playing it)
Cult Dreams - Things That Hurt (it’s just so epic!!)
Nervus Tough Crowd (I think it’s such an art to put across radical politics with so much joy, lifts me up)
Refused - War Music (It was such an honour to tour with Refused last year and to hear tracks of this absolute rager live)
PC: Do you have any favorite songs to play live off the new record?
RA: This tour I’m really enjoying Weather Warning because of how hard it kicks in and because me and Katie have ended up coordinating our head banging on it, which is loads of fun! And I’ve enjoyed closing our set with Naive because it gives me the chance to put across the point that’s at the heart of our politics as a band, which is essentially that the unknowability of the future is something we should embrace as an opportunity to try to create the changes that we want to see. It’s an idea that’s hugely inspired by the writing of Rebecca Solnit, and probably what keeps me getting up in the morning.
